WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:26.500 This is really how it all started, this little package of tools by Peter Norton, and then 00:26.500 --> 00:30.040 this instant best-seller, Sidekick, by Philippe Kahn. 00:30.040 --> 00:34.000 These are examples of utilities, those neat little programs that make life so much easier 00:34.000 --> 00:35.680 for a computer user. 00:35.680 --> 00:45.000 We're going to take a look at the newest utilities on today's edition of the Computer Chronicles. 00:45.000 --> 01:09.060 The Computer Chronicles is made possible by Leading Edge, makers of IBM-compatible computer 01:09.060 --> 01:14.060 systems including Lotus Look-Alike spreadsheet, word processing with spelling correction, 01:14.060 --> 01:18.460 communication software, and Hayes-compatible 1200-baud modem. 01:18.460 --> 01:23.500 Leading Edge, with over 1,000 service centers nationwide. 01:23.500 --> 01:26.780 Additional funding is provided by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte. 01:26.780 --> 01:31.300 Byte's detailed technical articles on new hardware, software, and languages cover developments 01:31.300 --> 01:39.460 in computer technology worldwide. 01:39.460 --> 01:40.700 Welcome to the Computer Chronicles. 01:40.700 --> 01:42.900 I'm Stuart Sheffey, and this is Gary Kildall. 01:42.900 --> 01:46.420 Gary, what we have running here is something called Sideways Utility, a lot of people are 01:46.420 --> 01:47.420 familiar with. 01:47.420 --> 01:51.460 What it lets you do is print out a Lotus spreadsheet horizontally rather than vertically, which 01:51.460 --> 01:55.100 of course makes a lot of sense, and it's something you couldn't do just through Lotus 1-2-3, 01:55.100 --> 01:56.300 hence utility. 01:56.300 --> 02:00.260 Some utilities like this work with application software, others work with operating systems. 02:00.260 --> 02:03.500 I was wondering, as a guy who designed an operating system, does it bother you when 02:03.500 --> 02:06.500 other guys come along and write utilities you never thought of in the first place? 02:06.500 --> 02:09.380 Not really, because when you're designing an operating system, it's really hard to tell 02:09.380 --> 02:12.060 what people are really going to want, especially when you're trying to keep the memory quiet. 02:12.060 --> 02:13.060 It's really small. 02:13.060 --> 02:16.660 In the case of CPM, for example, one of the first utilities that came out was an undelete 02:16.660 --> 02:19.660 program, and that's to recover the programs you just deleted. 02:19.660 --> 02:22.620 And when you're designing an operating system, why would you want to undelete something you 02:22.620 --> 02:23.620 just deleted? 02:23.620 --> 02:27.460 We're going to see some of the newest utilities on today's program, from disk optimizers to 02:27.460 --> 02:32.020 memory expansion emulators to something called an intuitive processor. 02:32.020 --> 02:35.140 First of all, we're going to begin with a background look at some of the past and present 02:35.140 --> 02:38.540 uses of utilities. 02:38.540 --> 02:43.700 To most computer users, utilities are convenient accessories that perform mundane computer 02:43.700 --> 02:48.280 housekeeping chores, like copying a disk or telling the time. 02:48.280 --> 02:54.720 But as files grow and applications become more complex, utilities take on new importance. 02:54.720 --> 02:59.500 The LaserWrite shop in Palo Alto, California, provides an elaborate array of electronic 02:59.500 --> 03:04.100 publishing services, from typesetting to graphic design. 03:04.100 --> 03:09.500 It depends on a group of specialized utilities to organize and manipulate their customers' 03:09.500 --> 03:10.500 files. 03:10.500 --> 03:16.580 A utility called TOPS makes it possible to transfer IBM text files over their AppleTalk 03:16.580 --> 03:23.100 network to a Macintosh, where the files can be reformatted using another utility. 03:23.100 --> 03:28.120 To change the size of graphics while retaining the same proportions, the LaserWrite staff 03:28.120 --> 03:32.900 uses an electronic proportion wheel utility. 03:32.900 --> 03:39.460 And to support electronic publishing's PostScript language, a template utility. 03:39.460 --> 03:44.180 Like many computer users with hard disks, people at LaserWrite face the aggravation 03:44.180 --> 03:47.700 of mislabeled or misplaced files. 03:47.700 --> 03:53.300 A utility called Locator can recover them using just a single keystroke and trace the 03:53.300 --> 03:57.020 file's directory and sub-directory. 03:57.020 --> 04:02.420 In spite of their unglamorous reputation as program accessories, utility packages have 04:02.420 --> 04:08.340 grown in popularity and functionality, at least occasionally crossing the barrier from 04:08.340 --> 04:24.540 desktop organizers to mainstream software. 04:24.540 --> 04:28.400 Joining us now in the studio are Ed Tolson, president of SoftLogic of Manchester, New 04:28.400 --> 04:29.400 Hampshire. 04:29.400 --> 04:33.820 Next to Ed is Dale Siner, one of the co-founders of Executive Systems of Sherman Oaks, California. 04:33.820 --> 04:34.820 Gary? 04:34.820 --> 04:36.860 Ed, you and Dale have made a business out of selling utilities. 04:36.860 --> 04:38.460 How big a business is it? 04:38.460 --> 04:40.140 It's a pretty big business. 04:40.140 --> 04:44.540 There's a lot of holes in the operating system for utilities such as these to fill up. 04:44.540 --> 04:47.460 Dale, how many customers do you have? 04:47.460 --> 04:49.500 We've sold over 100,000 copies of Xtree. 04:49.500 --> 04:50.500 Really? 04:50.500 --> 04:51.500 That'd be really good. 04:51.500 --> 04:55.780 Ed, you've got a program here that's disk optimizer and also double DOS, right? 04:55.780 --> 04:56.780 That's right. 04:56.780 --> 04:59.020 Let's start off with disk optimizer and tell us what that does. 04:59.020 --> 05:00.020 Okay. 05:00.020 --> 05:03.780 Well, disk optimizer is meant to keep your hard disk working as fast as possible. 05:03.780 --> 05:05.860 The problem that occurs is file fragmentation. 05:05.860 --> 05:11.660 Just to make sure people understand, tell us what you mean by file fragmentation. 05:11.660 --> 05:18.620 File fragmentation is the process that occurs due to the fact that DOS stores files in individual 05:18.620 --> 05:20.460 packets called clusters. 05:20.460 --> 05:23.500 On this type of system, each cluster is 2K. 05:23.500 --> 05:27.740 So if you have 100K file or program, then it can be literally in 50 different places 05:27.740 --> 05:29.180 on the disk. 05:29.180 --> 05:31.660 And what disk optimizer does is? 05:31.660 --> 05:34.300 It makes all those pieces contiguous. 05:34.300 --> 05:37.780 So therefore, the drive doesn't have to move around to seek each piece. 05:37.780 --> 05:38.780 And so you can load it faster. 05:38.780 --> 05:39.780 Exactly. 05:39.780 --> 05:40.780 Okay. 05:40.780 --> 05:41.780 Show us how you do it. 05:41.780 --> 05:42.780 Okay. 05:42.780 --> 05:48.260 Well, the analyze program we use to determine what kind of shape our drive is in. 05:48.260 --> 05:54.020 And the analyze program will show us on the screen in percentage the optimization for 05:54.020 --> 05:55.820 each of the files on there. 05:55.820 --> 06:00.340 So a file that's 100% optimized means that all its pieces are contiguous side by side, 06:00.340 --> 06:01.340 fastest possible access. 06:01.340 --> 06:03.100 So it's not analyzing the hard disk drive here. 06:03.100 --> 06:04.100 Exactly. 06:04.100 --> 06:05.100 And what do you find out? 06:05.100 --> 06:06.100 Okay. 06:06.100 --> 06:09.180 Well, the ones that display in green are at 100% and those files are contiguous. 06:09.180 --> 06:11.540 We have a few that are shown in red here. 06:11.540 --> 06:14.340 And those files are badly fragmented. 06:14.340 --> 06:16.660 If we had some that were borderline, they would show in yellow. 06:16.660 --> 06:17.900 Now it says 0%. 06:17.900 --> 06:19.280 What does that mean next to the red file? 06:19.280 --> 06:21.820 That means that none of its clusters are contiguous. 06:21.820 --> 06:22.820 Okay. 06:22.820 --> 06:24.900 Now your program could clean this up also, right? 06:24.900 --> 06:25.900 Exactly. 06:25.900 --> 06:26.900 And how would you do that? 06:26.900 --> 06:29.660 I know we don't have time to do it, but suppose you wanted to put everything into 100% optimization. 06:29.660 --> 06:32.220 Well, we would run the optimize program. 06:32.220 --> 06:37.300 We can tell the optimize to work on any drive and it will go through and reorganize the 06:37.300 --> 06:38.300 information. 06:38.300 --> 06:43.580 It does it in a very safe fashion, redundantly allocating the information that's moving around. 06:43.580 --> 06:45.380 This one we worked on a floppy in five seconds. 06:45.380 --> 06:46.380 Okay. 06:46.380 --> 06:47.380 And what about DoubleDOS? 06:47.380 --> 06:48.380 Can you show us that? 06:48.380 --> 06:49.380 Sure. 06:49.380 --> 06:52.900 DoubleDOS is a two-task multitasking system providing classic foreground and background 06:52.900 --> 06:59.180 operation and basically we can start up virtually any program. 06:59.180 --> 07:00.180 Okay. 07:00.180 --> 07:01.180 So you're going to run Lotus. 07:01.180 --> 07:02.340 Exactly. 07:02.340 --> 07:05.980 And we can be working with it and if we decide that we need to do something else, like if 07:05.980 --> 07:08.820 we were going to print out this spreadsheet or something, we could just go on back to 07:08.820 --> 07:11.020 work with something else. 07:11.020 --> 07:12.020 Okay. 07:12.020 --> 07:17.900 So you're going to go into the MicroProse directory here. 07:17.900 --> 07:18.900 That's the hard part. 07:18.900 --> 07:19.900 Okay. 07:19.900 --> 07:22.060 And start up our WordStar. 07:22.060 --> 07:24.860 We could have WordStar running in here while we're printing out something out of Lotus 07:24.860 --> 07:25.860 at the same time. 07:25.860 --> 07:26.860 Exactly. 07:26.860 --> 07:27.860 And go up and back? 07:27.860 --> 07:28.860 That's right. 07:28.860 --> 07:29.860 Instantly back and forth between the two. 07:29.860 --> 07:32.380 Do you have any problem with file conflicts at all? 07:32.380 --> 07:33.380 No. 07:33.380 --> 07:37.700 Basically, as long as you don't try to edit the same file at the same time, you can't 07:37.700 --> 07:38.700 get hurt. 07:38.700 --> 07:39.700 Yeah. 07:39.700 --> 07:41.300 Let's go over to you and you've got a couple of utilities too. 07:41.300 --> 07:42.980 Xtry and then something new called HUT. 07:42.980 --> 07:45.380 I want to ask you to show us what Xtry does first. 07:45.380 --> 07:48.060 If you just sort of take over the AT there. 07:48.060 --> 07:49.060 Okay. 07:49.060 --> 07:52.540 So, Xtry is a file and directory management program. 07:52.540 --> 07:56.940 We believe utilities should do two things, make the computer easier to use and save time. 07:56.940 --> 08:02.020 Xtry is a big time saver because it shows you clearly what your directory structure 08:02.020 --> 08:06.140 looks like and it makes it very easy to move files between directories, copy, delete, rename 08:06.140 --> 08:08.060 files in groups or individually. 08:08.060 --> 08:10.820 So the usual mess of not knowing where all the stuff is in your hard disk. 08:10.820 --> 08:11.820 Okay. 08:11.820 --> 08:12.820 So what is it showing us? 08:12.820 --> 08:15.500 So, here it shows you the directories and subdirectories in the top window. 08:15.500 --> 08:18.540 In the bottom window, there are the files within that subdirectory. 08:18.540 --> 08:20.500 I could blow that up like that. 08:20.500 --> 08:22.940 And I can also show all the files in all directories. 08:22.940 --> 08:25.060 Regardless of directory, these are all the files. 08:25.060 --> 08:27.100 And you can sort those files in a variety of ways? 08:27.100 --> 08:29.460 Alphabetically, by extension, by size or by date and time. 08:29.460 --> 08:32.180 And how long have you been selling Xtry? 08:32.180 --> 08:33.180 About 18 months. 08:33.180 --> 08:34.180 Okay. 08:34.180 --> 08:35.180 What's the cost of a product like that? 08:35.180 --> 08:36.180 $49.95. 08:36.180 --> 08:37.180 Okay. 08:37.180 --> 08:40.020 Now, the new thing you have is HUT, another utility. 08:40.020 --> 08:41.940 And if I can ask you to get HUT up. 08:41.940 --> 08:42.940 Okay. 08:42.940 --> 08:48.300 Let me show us what that does. 08:48.300 --> 08:49.300 HUT is a... 08:49.300 --> 08:50.300 That's what I thought. 08:50.300 --> 08:57.220 We have a problem that double-dos didn't give me enough memory to run HUT in this section. 08:57.220 --> 08:59.660 Can you disable it? 08:59.660 --> 09:02.540 HUT is an intelligent menuing system. 09:02.540 --> 09:06.460 First of all, for the novice user, it automatically builds menus for you. 09:06.460 --> 09:07.940 You don't have to do anything. 09:07.940 --> 09:11.840 It'll build menus on the applications that you already have on your system. 09:11.840 --> 09:16.500 For the more experienced user, he can go in and tailor those menus to whatever his application 09:16.500 --> 09:17.580 needs are. 09:17.580 --> 09:21.820 It's a complete menu editor to add items and move the menus around. 09:21.820 --> 09:24.300 And it also has some pop-up utilities with it. 09:24.300 --> 09:27.060 Will we be able to get this up here, you think, Ian? 09:27.060 --> 09:28.060 Or is it too complicated? 09:28.060 --> 09:29.060 No. 09:29.060 --> 09:30.060 We're all set. 09:30.060 --> 09:31.060 How are we doing? 09:31.060 --> 09:32.060 So you're getting rid of double-dos. 09:32.060 --> 09:33.060 And now let's see if we can get... 09:33.060 --> 09:34.060 It's got an example running through you. 09:34.060 --> 09:35.060 Really? 09:35.060 --> 09:36.060 It's a great example. 09:36.060 --> 09:37.060 Okay. 09:37.060 --> 09:38.060 There we go. 09:38.060 --> 09:39.060 Well, we did it. 09:39.060 --> 09:40.060 Okay. 09:40.060 --> 09:41.060 Here's HUT. 09:41.060 --> 09:52.580 And a few moments ago, I built this menu system automatically based on the applications you 09:52.580 --> 09:53.580 have on this hard disk. 09:53.580 --> 09:58.180 And you have communications, database, et cetera, spreadsheet, utilities, word processing. 09:58.180 --> 09:59.820 And you can go to any one of these. 09:59.820 --> 10:03.220 In word processing, you have four word processors on this system. 10:03.220 --> 10:06.900 Easy, the HUT1 word, which comes with HUT, WordStar, and WordPerfect. 10:06.900 --> 10:09.780 And again, by running HUT, it automatically built all these applications and menus for 10:09.780 --> 10:10.780 us. 10:10.780 --> 10:16.180 And we're going to take a look at a new package of utilities for D-based users. 10:16.180 --> 10:19.620 We'll see a utility that lets you pretend that you have an extended memory board. 10:19.620 --> 10:23.460 Now, there's a guy who writes very good utilities and he gives them away. 10:23.460 --> 10:27.780 We're going to find out more about him from Wendy Woods. 10:27.780 --> 10:33.620 Vernon Berg is a prolific producer of utilities for the IBM PC and compatibles. 10:33.620 --> 10:39.740 He's got some 50 programs to his credit, programs that file, sort, archive, and even aid in 10:39.740 --> 10:41.580 programming itself. 10:41.580 --> 10:44.660 He's been writing them since 1983. 10:44.660 --> 10:52.140 When you need something done, a utility program to convert a file or to print it out or whatever 10:52.140 --> 10:56.500 you want done with, you usually can't find them. 10:56.500 --> 10:59.220 Commercial programs don't do those kind of things. 10:59.220 --> 11:04.460 They're pretty much word processors, data, database programs, something like that. 11:04.460 --> 11:10.900 I usually end up writing them, either starting out with basic or what I like to write in 11:10.900 --> 11:15.380 now is Assembler because it produces smaller, faster programs. 11:15.380 --> 11:21.340 Vernon is best known for List, a utility which allows you to view and search text files from 11:21.340 --> 11:26.500 DOS level without the hassle of having to load a word processing program. 11:26.500 --> 11:29.380 Like all of his software, List is free. 11:29.380 --> 11:33.180 People need only to write him or call his electronic bulletin board, which operates 11:33.180 --> 11:37.340 24 hours a day from his home in Daly City, California. 11:37.340 --> 11:42.580 They're free because for Vernon Berg, writing utilities is a labor of love. 11:42.580 --> 11:49.500 One of the reasons I give the programs out is just so I can be out there participating. 11:49.500 --> 12:04.180 For the Computer Chronicles, I'm Wendy Woods. 12:04.180 --> 12:08.460 Joining us now in the studio is Karen Lund, president of Teleware, Incorporated of Pittsburgh, 12:08.460 --> 12:09.460 New York. 12:09.460 --> 12:12.500 And sitting next to Karen is Robert Hoffman, who's development manager for Ashton Tate's 12:12.500 --> 12:14.620 publishing group based in Torrance, California. 12:14.620 --> 12:15.620 Gary? 12:15.620 --> 12:19.100 Stuart, you know, back in the late 70s, the heart of this machine, the 8086 processor 12:19.100 --> 12:22.500 was designed with about 640K of main memory. 12:22.500 --> 12:25.140 At that time, we figured we could rule the world with that much memory. 12:25.140 --> 12:26.500 But it seems to be a problem now. 12:26.500 --> 12:29.140 What is the 640 kilobyte restriction doing to this? 12:29.140 --> 12:36.220 It makes it extremely difficult for developers to provide adequate software for applications 12:36.220 --> 12:38.860 programs these days. 12:38.860 --> 12:40.100 People are always saying, we want more. 12:40.100 --> 12:41.100 We want a lot more. 12:41.100 --> 12:43.380 We want to go beyond the 640K limit. 12:43.380 --> 12:47.300 And there are now two main standards that are used to do this. 12:47.300 --> 12:53.540 One is the LIM spec, which we have used in developing above disk to give you some expanded 12:53.540 --> 12:54.540 memory capability. 12:54.540 --> 12:58.500 One of the problems, of course, is the monster spreadsheet, which we're going to talk about 12:58.500 --> 12:59.740 here, which takes more than that. 12:59.740 --> 13:02.180 And you have, what's the size of the spreadsheet you have in there right now? 13:02.180 --> 13:05.320 We have a spreadsheet in here with 20,000 cells in it now. 13:05.320 --> 13:08.540 It will not load in 640K. 13:08.540 --> 13:16.460 We brought it up just to show you we've got some expanded memory out there that it is 13:16.460 --> 13:19.100 using. 13:19.100 --> 13:22.900 Not a lot that you can see from above disk, but it does provide you with expanded memory 13:22.900 --> 13:23.900 in software. 13:23.900 --> 13:24.900 OK, well, let's back up a minute. 13:24.900 --> 13:27.820 Now, the normal solution before you get to above disk of that problem was what? 13:27.820 --> 13:28.940 Is to use a board. 13:28.940 --> 13:34.260 You go out, you buy a RAM board, an EMS board with some expensive memory on it, plug it 13:34.260 --> 13:36.940 into your machine, and then you can run your big spreadsheets. 13:36.940 --> 13:39.540 And what would the cost of buying that board be, for example? 13:39.540 --> 13:42.940 Depending on what you get and how much memory you get on it, it can go up into the $600 13:42.940 --> 13:43.940 range. 13:43.940 --> 13:47.500 Now, tell us again what above disk does to solve the problem another way. 13:47.500 --> 13:54.940 OK, above disk emulates, above disk implements the EMS standard in software. 13:54.940 --> 14:00.700 It will take any kind of a disk file or AT extended memory, use that as expanded memory, 14:00.700 --> 14:03.660 totally transparent to you, the user, and to your application. 14:03.660 --> 14:05.860 Now, Karen, how does that affect performance? 14:05.860 --> 14:10.220 When you were using, let's say, using a disk file instead of extended memory, how does 14:10.220 --> 14:11.220 it affect performance? 14:11.220 --> 14:16.980 A disk file will be, I think our benchmarks show that it runs about 60% as fast as an 14:16.980 --> 14:17.980 EMS board. 14:17.980 --> 14:22.580 Extended memory will run just as fast as an EMS board. 14:22.580 --> 14:26.100 It will, I will also point out, it will run off floppies for those machines that don't 14:26.100 --> 14:27.300 have access to a hard disk. 14:27.300 --> 14:30.060 It's obviously much slower off floppies, but it's there. 14:30.060 --> 14:31.860 It's there and it does support the low-end user. 14:31.860 --> 14:36.020 Karen, I want to ask you if you can pull your disk out and load Robert's disk. 14:36.020 --> 14:38.020 And Robert, if you can take over the keyboard for a minute. 14:38.020 --> 14:41.220 You've just come out, Ashton Tate has just come out with this whole package of utilities 14:41.220 --> 14:42.220 for D-Base users. 14:42.220 --> 14:43.780 Tell me what's in that package. 14:43.780 --> 14:47.980 This is a group of utilities that we've put together to help the D-Base programmer both 14:47.980 --> 14:51.900 with his programming and his day-to-day computer activities. 14:51.900 --> 14:53.460 It's broken up into three groups. 14:53.460 --> 14:57.620 The first is a series of assembly language modules which are callable and loadable from 14:57.620 --> 14:58.820 D-Base. 14:58.820 --> 15:04.540 The second group has a database recovery program for damaged, for corrupted files, power, from 15:04.540 --> 15:06.540 power failures and so on. 15:06.540 --> 15:11.420 There's a debugging, structuring, cross-reference, symbol table type program. 15:11.420 --> 15:14.260 And then a series of DOS level maintenance utilities. 15:14.260 --> 15:16.140 Can we take a look at them? 15:16.140 --> 15:23.620 Yeah, here's a bit of fluff that just shows off a few of the modules for screen control. 15:23.620 --> 15:28.220 There's also one that gives you direct access of the serial port which could be very useful 15:28.220 --> 15:32.540 for writing an auto-dialer from D-Base. 15:32.540 --> 15:34.820 This one also saves screens if you like. 15:34.820 --> 15:36.580 Okay, how about D-Repair? 15:36.580 --> 15:40.500 That's the one that sounds like I might need it. 15:40.500 --> 15:48.900 Here's a database that we offer up for sacrifice that we're going to zap inadvertently which 15:48.900 --> 15:52.420 in D-Base just takes care of everything. 15:52.420 --> 15:56.060 This could also help if someone trips over the power cord in you. 15:56.060 --> 16:00.820 So the situation is they inadvertently lost a whole file in here. 16:00.820 --> 16:01.820 Okay. 16:01.820 --> 16:02.820 Okay. 16:02.820 --> 16:03.820 What are you going to do? 16:03.820 --> 16:13.780 What we're going to do is bring up the recovery program which will first verify that the header 16:13.780 --> 16:20.340 is correct and if it can find the valid header and allow you to fix it. 16:20.340 --> 16:25.740 Then it will go ahead and search all of the clusters on the disk for valid records, pausing 16:25.740 --> 16:31.980 whenever it has a question and letting you know that you need to run through and fill 16:31.980 --> 16:32.980 it all out. 16:32.980 --> 16:34.300 That's utility package software. 16:34.300 --> 16:35.300 It's $89.95. 16:35.300 --> 16:38.580 It sounds like a pretty good price if you corrupt your disk once. 16:38.580 --> 16:39.780 That's for sure. 16:39.780 --> 16:41.260 One save is worth it. 16:41.260 --> 16:43.140 Karen, Robert, thank you very much. 16:43.140 --> 16:46.620 Now in just a minute we're going to take a look at intuitive processing and clairvoyance 16:46.620 --> 16:47.980 right on your PC. 16:47.980 --> 17:02.380 So stay with us. 17:02.380 --> 17:06.740 With us now in the studio is Jay Eisenlor, Vice President of Ares Incorporated of Portland, 17:06.740 --> 17:07.740 Oregon. 17:07.740 --> 17:11.420 Sitting next to Jay is Ezra Shapiro, Consulting Editor with Byte Magazine. 17:11.420 --> 17:14.340 Weighing down the table at the end is our regular commentator, George Morrow. 17:14.340 --> 17:17.820 Stuart, as you know, the IBM PC DOS interface is a pretty old one. 17:17.820 --> 17:21.260 It came from CPM and the CPM interface came from the old time string system so it's got 17:21.260 --> 17:23.820 to be about 20 years old or something like that. 17:23.820 --> 17:25.860 I'd say categorically that no one really likes it. 17:25.860 --> 17:27.860 It hasn't gotten any better in 20 years. 17:27.860 --> 17:31.500 And the approach has been recently to replace the whole DOS interface with things like the 17:31.500 --> 17:34.500 Digital Research Gem product or Microsoft Windows or whatever. 17:34.500 --> 17:37.060 But Jay's product really tries to enhance the DOS interface. 17:37.060 --> 17:39.340 Can you show us what that's about? 17:39.340 --> 17:40.340 Exactly, Gary. 17:40.340 --> 17:46.500 What we're doing here is we're actually enhancing DOS with an intuitive processing technology 17:46.500 --> 17:52.540 that we call Ares A. And what it does is character by character or element by element, it actually 17:52.540 --> 17:56.540 syntax checks the DOS command line. 17:56.540 --> 18:02.540 And to show you very quickly what it does, as I begin to type, I'll just type random 18:02.540 --> 18:04.260 characters initially. 18:04.260 --> 18:07.460 It just shows the highlighted areas that it doesn't understand. 18:07.460 --> 18:13.260 I'm currently in the sub-directory now and as I type in an N, it automatically completes 18:13.260 --> 18:16.780 it because there are simultaneous dictionaries that are running on the system. 18:16.780 --> 18:19.300 Is that the clairvoyance element you're talking about? 18:19.300 --> 18:20.620 That's the clairvoyance element. 18:20.620 --> 18:23.780 And it's actually not true clairvoyance. 18:23.780 --> 18:30.580 What it's doing is it knows that there's no other file in the system called now. 18:30.580 --> 18:37.580 And what I can do in this system is I can actually invoke, actually go out and append 18:37.580 --> 18:40.020 a memo that I call memo. 18:40.020 --> 18:43.820 And as you can see, a choices window will pop up immediately. 18:43.820 --> 18:48.220 And without moving from the command line, I can move up and down this window and see 18:48.220 --> 18:50.220 that it isn't in the directory that I'm currently in. 18:50.220 --> 18:54.140 The problem is as soon as it saw the E, the second character, it knew there was a problem. 18:54.140 --> 18:55.140 That's exactly right. 18:55.140 --> 18:58.140 It reversed, highlighted it, and then showed you the possible choices you really had beginning 18:58.140 --> 18:59.140 with an M. 18:59.140 --> 19:00.540 That's exactly right. 19:00.540 --> 19:01.540 And all these features are usable. 19:01.540 --> 19:03.540 Okay, how do you solve the problem then? 19:03.540 --> 19:08.800 I invoke another command called locate and it actually goes out on the system and brings 19:08.800 --> 19:14.500 back all the path names that start with M-E. And then what I can do is actually choose 19:14.500 --> 19:18.260 the one that I want and bring it back down to the control line. 19:18.260 --> 19:20.660 And at that point, just execute the program. 19:20.660 --> 19:24.460 Okay, so what are the couple of problems then that Dayton solves? 19:24.460 --> 19:30.380 Well, Dayton specifically solves the problem of the command line itself. 19:30.380 --> 19:37.460 Rather than hitting a return and getting back a bad command or user file name, you're guaranteed 19:37.460 --> 19:41.460 by the time you get to the end of the line that you're going to have a good command line. 19:41.460 --> 19:44.820 And you just can't get away with a mistake and it'll show you what the mistake is. 19:44.820 --> 19:45.820 That's exactly right. 19:45.820 --> 19:49.180 So this product is a program that loads into memory just stays there. 19:49.180 --> 19:54.540 It's a memory resident program and it actually builds a dictionary of all the users' files 19:54.540 --> 19:55.540 and path names. 19:55.540 --> 19:56.860 Okay, but what does it sell for? 19:56.860 --> 19:59.020 It sells for $75 list price. 19:59.020 --> 20:03.180 When you say you're intuitive processing technology, what's it really doing there? 20:03.180 --> 20:08.220 What it's doing is it's checking on an 8088 machine at 500 microseconds. 20:08.220 --> 20:11.620 It's actually doing a compare against the dictionary, as I mentioned before, in this 20:11.620 --> 20:13.460 case five dictionaries. 20:13.460 --> 20:16.820 That can actually, the technology itself can actually handle up to a megabyte. 20:16.820 --> 20:19.020 Ezra, what do you think of this product? 20:19.020 --> 20:23.100 Well, it looks like it would make a pretty good safety net for somebody who's unfamiliar 20:23.100 --> 20:26.420 with DOS or who's a rotten typist like I am. 20:26.420 --> 20:31.020 The question I have though is that if you're a good typist and you're up to speed on what 20:31.020 --> 20:34.620 you're doing in DOS, this thing might get in your way. 20:34.620 --> 20:35.620 In what way? 20:35.620 --> 20:39.820 Well, you want to type something other than the choices it wants to offer you, you have 20:39.820 --> 20:41.060 a screen of choices coming up. 20:41.060 --> 20:46.100 I haven't really seen the product before today, so I don't know whether it's configurable. 20:46.100 --> 20:50.420 But my snap impression looks like that it might be a nuisance to somebody who's real 20:50.420 --> 20:52.020 adept at doing what he's supposed to do. 20:52.020 --> 20:53.700 How do you answer that, Jay? 20:53.700 --> 20:55.340 Well, it is configurable. 20:55.340 --> 20:57.140 It's totally configurable. 20:57.140 --> 21:02.100 And the whole idea of intuitive processing is to be able to customize according to the 21:02.100 --> 21:03.660 way you type. 21:03.660 --> 21:09.620 And in this case, I have spell checking on, I have auto choices on, I have clear avoidance 21:09.620 --> 21:12.540 on, and I have auto save dictionaries on. 21:12.540 --> 21:17.780 We can turn all those on and off just as we can in our word processing product as well. 21:17.780 --> 21:21.740 And the whole idea of this technology is to be able to customize it according to the way 21:21.740 --> 21:22.740 you type. 21:22.740 --> 21:26.940 Ezra, in general, talking about utilities, we were talking at the very beginning of the 21:26.940 --> 21:27.940 program with Gary. 21:27.940 --> 21:32.460 Are utilities around really because programmers don't do the right job in the first place? 21:32.460 --> 21:34.140 Yeah. 21:34.140 --> 21:38.240 The question from a user perspective is whether you want to drive a car or whether you want 21:38.240 --> 21:40.240 to be an auto mechanic. 21:40.240 --> 21:45.540 And a lot of these things are solutions to problems that are really a pain to solve when 21:45.540 --> 21:47.660 you're using a machine. 21:47.660 --> 21:52.060 I don't want to have to learn how to run a program to back up my hard disk. 21:52.060 --> 21:54.820 I just want to push a button and know that my data is safe. 21:54.820 --> 21:56.460 George, you're nodding your head no. 21:56.460 --> 22:00.180 I have to disagree because in the early days of the automobile, if you wanted to drive 22:00.180 --> 22:02.300 one, you had to be a mechanic. 22:02.300 --> 22:05.380 You had to be able to change tires and you had to be able to adjust your spark plugs. 22:05.380 --> 22:07.100 And we were at the same point with computers. 22:07.100 --> 22:09.420 But ideally, you shouldn't have to be a mechanic. 22:09.420 --> 22:10.420 Well, I'm sure. 22:10.420 --> 22:13.460 But the ideal world and the real world are usually two different things. 22:13.460 --> 22:19.180 The point is today, computers are at the same stage as Model Ts. 22:19.180 --> 22:22.820 And we still, and the people that help us with changing tires. 22:22.820 --> 22:26.220 Some guy that came out with something that helped you change your tire could have made 22:26.220 --> 22:27.220 some money in those days. 22:27.220 --> 22:29.980 And the utility programs are exactly like that. 22:29.980 --> 22:31.980 I've corrupted data in my file. 22:31.980 --> 22:35.860 And if I hadn't had something like the Norton Utilities, I would be programming for weeks. 22:35.860 --> 22:37.220 Did he convince you, Ezra? 22:37.220 --> 22:38.540 Oh, he convinced me. 22:38.540 --> 22:40.780 Yeah, I'm saying roughly the same thing. 22:40.780 --> 22:48.940 What disturbs me is that we do have to do a lot of, oh, checking and protecting ourselves 22:48.940 --> 22:52.420 in a way that is not particularly a lot of fun. 22:52.420 --> 22:56.620 And yeah, I'd love to see in the next generation, computers smart enough to handle a lot of 22:56.620 --> 22:58.540 the things that utilities handle by themselves. 22:58.540 --> 22:59.740 We're almost out of time, George. 22:59.740 --> 23:00.740 I'll give you 10 seconds. 23:00.740 --> 23:03.180 Well, Gary and I date back a ways. 23:03.180 --> 23:06.780 And we can see today, I'm sure both of us agree, that things are a lot better than they 23:06.780 --> 23:07.780 used to be. 23:07.780 --> 23:10.460 And probably in another 10 years, they're going to be a lot better than they are today. 23:10.460 --> 23:11.940 And we'll get closer to Ezra's world. 23:11.940 --> 23:14.220 And we've certainly seen some pretty interesting utilities today, actually. 23:14.220 --> 23:15.220 Gentlemen, thank you very much. 23:15.220 --> 23:29.220 We'll be back in just a minute with this week's computer news. 23:29.220 --> 23:33.300 In the random access file this week, IBM and Intel have signed a deal to jointly develop 23:33.300 --> 23:39.300 new customized computer chips based on a new design technology called ASIC, application-specific 23:39.300 --> 23:40.780 integrated circuitry. 23:40.780 --> 23:45.000 The upshot of the deal is that IBM may now move away from its own PC standard in an effort 23:45.000 --> 23:46.420 to combat the clones. 23:46.420 --> 23:50.660 The IBM-Intel deal could establish a new standard around the custom chips and so make it much 23:50.660 --> 23:53.380 more difficult for clone makers to copy IBM. 23:53.380 --> 23:58.060 The other major effect of a new standard for the next generation of IBM PCs would be confusion 23:58.060 --> 24:00.460 in the software marketplace. 24:00.460 --> 24:04.300 IBM also in the news this week with a prediction of lower profits for 1986. 24:04.300 --> 24:07.980 If that happens, this would be the first time since the Depression that IBM had declining 24:07.980 --> 24:10.900 profits for two consecutive years. 24:10.900 --> 24:14.100 The standard for speed computing has always been the Cray supercomputer. 24:14.100 --> 24:19.740 But this week, ETA Systems of Minnesota announced a new supercomputer, the ETA10, that can perform 24:19.740 --> 24:22.740 10 billion arithmetic operations per second. 24:22.740 --> 24:25.260 That makes it 40 times faster than the Cray 2. 24:25.260 --> 24:30.380 The first ETA10 will be installed at Florida State University in a few months. 24:30.380 --> 24:34.300 Lotus has formally introduced its much-touted HAL interface for 123. 24:34.300 --> 24:38.060 HAL lets you communicate with Lotus in plain English so that you can now command Lotus 24:38.060 --> 24:46.180 to graph column 3 as a pie chart rather than hitting GTP AB 6.B9 return XA 6.9 return V. 24:46.180 --> 24:50.500 HAL also logs all Lotus commands so that you can review what you did and it provides several 24:50.500 --> 24:52.260 other Lotus utilities. 24:52.260 --> 24:55.620 Time for this week's software review with Paul Schindler. 24:55.620 --> 24:59.620 Sure, I can fix my PC myself. 24:59.620 --> 25:03.140 But every time I take the skin off that sucker, it makes me nervous. 25:03.140 --> 25:07.040 If you're like me and you're not too pleased about having to guess what you're doing inside 25:07.040 --> 25:10.900 of an IBM personal computer, check out ServTech. 25:10.900 --> 25:13.720 ServTech is unprotected, which is nice. 25:13.720 --> 25:18.140 It starts with a firm but amusing anti-piracy notice, which I think reflects the kind of 25:18.140 --> 25:21.100 spirit that's most likely to reduce piracy. 25:21.100 --> 25:23.260 ServTech does several things. 25:23.260 --> 25:27.020 New PC owners fill out a menu of options describing their system. 25:27.020 --> 25:32.360 ServTech shows you the switch settings and the locations of the switches for such a configuration. 25:32.360 --> 25:35.020 It offers disassembly advice. 25:35.020 --> 25:41.300 ServTech shows you where the screws are located and shows you how to take apart an IBM PC. 25:41.300 --> 25:46.620 Perhaps ServTech's most useful feature is a diagnostic error interpreter. 25:46.620 --> 25:50.780 You learn not only what error messages mean, but you get a step-by-step troubleshooting 25:50.780 --> 25:53.540 procedure for diagnosis and repair. 25:53.540 --> 25:58.780 If a chip is suspect, it blinks on a map of the computer. 25:58.780 --> 26:03.340 ServTech costs $50 and comes from Rylos Technologies in Burke, Virginia. 26:03.340 --> 26:06.620 For the Computer Chronicles, I'm Paul Schindler. 26:06.620 --> 26:10.900 The Software Publishers Association has awarded its Platinum discs to the two best-selling 26:10.900 --> 26:14.620 programs, both of which have sold over 250,000 copies. 26:14.620 --> 26:19.260 And the winners were Print Shop from Broderbund and Newsroom from Springboard. 26:19.260 --> 26:23.140 Gold discs were also awarded to programs that sold over 100,000 copies. 26:23.140 --> 26:28.020 The two top software publishers were Electronic Arts with six winners and Epics with three 26:28.020 --> 26:29.020 winners. 26:29.020 --> 26:33.740 Microsoft says it will take copy protection off Excel and other Macintosh software packages. 26:33.740 --> 26:37.780 Earlier this year, Microsoft dropped copy protection on MS-DOS software. 26:37.780 --> 26:42.420 Microsoft said with increasing use of hard disks on Macs, copy protection is no longer 26:42.420 --> 26:44.900 in the interest of its customers. 26:44.900 --> 26:47.780 Over the summer, the major hacker hunt was for Captain Midnight. 26:47.780 --> 26:52.420 Now the most wanted hacker is a man called Pink Floyd, a suspected graduate student who 26:52.420 --> 26:56.860 has broken into dozens of campus computer systems from Stanford to MIT. 26:56.860 --> 27:01.060 His specialty seems to be breaking into Unix systems, and some investigators suspect he's 27:01.060 --> 27:05.060 trying to show how vulnerable Unix systems are to security breaks. 27:05.060 --> 27:08.940 Pink Floyd has even called system operators to tell them he's about to break into their 27:08.940 --> 27:12.220 system, but so far, Pink Floyd is on the loose. 27:12.220 --> 27:15.740 Finally, if you're still trying to figure out what to do with your home computer, there's 27:15.740 --> 27:20.780 a new book out by Dan Gutman that has a collection of 400 offbeat applications that you probably 27:20.780 --> 27:21.780 never thought of. 27:21.780 --> 27:26.000 Among the little-known software programs is one written by a Lebanese man for Moslem 27:26.000 --> 27:27.660 businessmen who travel a lot. 27:27.660 --> 27:32.080 The program automatically calculates the times of day for prayer and the direction of Mecca 27:32.080 --> 27:33.940 from any location in the world. 27:33.940 --> 27:34.940 That's it for this week's Chronicles. 27:34.940 --> 27:35.940 We'll see you next time. 27:35.940 --> 27:43.580 The Computer Chronicles is made possible by Leading Edge, makers of IBM-compatible computer 27:43.580 --> 27:48.620 systems including Lotus Lookalike Spreadsheet, word processing with spelling correction, 27:48.620 --> 27:52.860 communication software, and Hays-compatible 1200-baud modem. 27:52.860 --> 27:57.660 Leading Edge, with over 1,000 service centers nationwide. 27:57.660 --> 28:01.340 Additional funding is provided by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte. 28:01.340 --> 28:05.860 Byte's detailed technical articles on new hardware, software, and languages cover developments 28:05.860 --> 28:25.060 in computer technology worldwide.